Luke Bogacki's success in the sportsman ranks has been well chronicled. The 28-year-old Alabama
resident has earned a reputation as one of the most successful ET bracket and sportsman class
racers in the country over the last decade. But, like most anyone, a handful of accomplishments
still elude the young veteran. This winter, Bogacki was able to knock one major triumph off his
checklist, as he won his first winter series event at the Bradenton "Best of Both Worlds" Winter
Series Championship, a $10,000 windfall on Friday November 13.

The annual "Winter Series" is a multi-week, multi-event marathon of big dollar bracket races
throughout South Georgia and Florida. The events have predominantly been dominated by the greatest
sportsman competitors in the country for over 25 years.

"Coming into this season, I felt like I still had four major goals in racing that I hadn't
accomplished," said Bogacki. "I wanted to win an NHRA national event, a day of the winter series, a
major (NHRA or IHRA) world championship, and a Winter Series Points title. I still have the dream
of becoming a world champion or 5-day points champ, but it's been a great season; and I got to mark
two of those accomplishments off my list!"

Bogacki earned his first NHRA national event victory back in April with a Super Comp win at the
Southern Nationals in Atlanta. He backed that up with a second title at the Mid-South Nationals in
Memphis in October. In similar fashion, he enjoyed multiple victories at this season's winter
series.

After a less than impressive outing at the South Georgia Motorsports Park New World 5-day
Championships to kick off his '09 winter series tour, Bogacki earned his $10,000 payday on day two
at Bradenton. In doing so, Bogacki put on an absolute clinic at the starting line. Following a
-.002 red light in round one, Bogacki bought back and posted five consecutive reactions between
.000 and .006 to advance to the quarterfinals. There, he used a .011 reaction and dead-on 7.098 ET
to best Todd Thompson (who was driving Bogacki's second ThisIsBracketRacing.com entry). He then
used a .006 reaction time to oust up-and-coming competitor Mike Bloomfield, Jr. in the semi-finals,
before posting his worst reaction of the event, an .017 in the final round opposite defending
Bradenton Winter Series Gold Cup champion John Ciccarone. Ciccarone did not take advantage of
Bogacki's subpar light, posting a .018 of his own, and Bogacki worked the finish line correctly,
crossing first by a scant .008 to win with a .02-over 7.16.

PBIR winner circle.

Five short days later, Bogacki appeared in another final round, this time in an 1/8th mile event at
Palm Beach International Raceway, behind the wheel of Jon Siegel's familiar "Wheelie Wagon" Malibu
Station Wagon. Again, Bogacki posted phenomenal reaction times throughout the event. After a first
round red light, and a second round .016 reaction, Bogacki's window for the remaining six rounds
was from .003 to .008. He met with friend Brian Folk in a final round that featured a little bit of
gamesmanship from both competitors.

"Brian and I are pretty good buddies. We talked about re-distributing the purse a little bit, and
even agreed to race for $1,000. Then Brian said 'Why don't we just split it even; I wanna do a
wheelie!' That settled it, we swapped cars for the final. Obviously I'm about .02 quicker than
Brian; I was -.013 red in his dragster and he was .029 in the wagon. The tech guys at the end of
the track were really confused when we got out of each others cars. It was a lot of fun."

With his strong showing down South, Bogacki wrapped up one of his most successful seasons to date.
With a couple of bracket outings remaining in 2009, he has already appeared in 20 final rounds,
coming out with 16 event victories. In addition to his two NHRA national event crowns, Bogacki also
claimed a pair of IHRA national event wins and the IHRA Summit All-Stars title in Top Dragster. On
the bracket racing scene, Bogacki picked up three $10,000 triumphs (two in top bulb competition,
one at the World Footbrake Challenge), and a pair of $5,000 bottom bulb victories.

"I also want to thank Jon Siegel for letting me shoe the wagon; Todd Ewing, Jason Lynch, and Todd
Thompson for all their help down South; and of course my girlfriend Jessica for all her help and
support."

Bogacki will wrap up his 2009 campaign with a pair of big dollar bracket events at Holly Springs
Motorsports this weekend and Carolina Dragway next week.